Friday, February 6, 2009

Student loan consolidation rates

Student loan consolidation rates are competitive and can be lend through government or private lender. There are many options available for a student to select the best provider of student loan consolidation, you can search for a lender online and can check their interest rates. In student loan consolidation interest rates plays a great role. Today in the market, thousands of lenders are lending loans to student but when it comes to their interest rates, they are charging very high which is unaffordable by a student. 

Consolidating loans and getting good student loan consolidation rates can help a student shift into responsible bill paying consumer. A student can take a leave from paying monthly on student loans. In student loans, a student has to pay interest every month and for their monthly bills, he has to pay separately but in student loan consolidation, a student has to pay only one payment. 
It is uncommon for a borrower to get a fixed interest rate that is up to 0.6% lower than their current rates. According to federal regulations, calculating the interest rate on a consolidated loan disbursed on or after July 1, 1994 involves the weighted average of the interest rates of the old school loans you are consolidating under the new one, rounded up to the nearest one-eight of one percent. Fixed interest rates on a consolidated loan cannot exceed 8.25 percent. 

It is researched that Americans are the first one in the row of taking the advantages of student loan consolidation rates. Now a days thousands of student getting advantage of applying for student loan consolidation as it not only allows you to study well but give you the options of shopping also. Consolidations are one way of getting control over spending and effectively planning a budget. For a best student loan consolidation rates you can surf on net and can be able to find lenders who are proposing affordable payment plans. They give best advices to the students to choose the best student loan consolidation in low rates. 

Thinking about the student loan consolidation is very easy, when it comes on the student loan consolidation rates, you have to browse different company's brochures, need to enquire about the company's creditability, the most important thing you need to ask yourself about your requirements which is very important for the application of student loan consolidation. When a student applies for student loans, it is advisory to check the terms that are offered by the student loan provider. But in the student loan consolidation you don't have to apply for different types of loan, only one will solve all your problems. You have to make one monthly loan payment every month, instead of several loan payments every month over time. This not only saves the student's time, but keeps them relax from the tensions of paying differently on their loans.

Best student loan consolidation

Best student loan consolidation, a way to slim down your monthly burden 

Going to college is very important. Thus, Americans, even married once still continue to go to college. This is because you have better future if you are able to finish college; this is true in American and even in the other parts of the world. 

To help you with this important factor in your life, student loans are available to help you go through college education. However, students end up with knee-deep in student loans. 

If you are one of these students, you need not despair; you may shop around to find the best student loan consolidation entities to help you in the process of getting out of debt. 

Best student loan consolidation will help reduce your monthly payment of up to 50%. 

You cannot find any better deal than that. Reducing your monthly payment will mean that you can have some spare money for other purposes. Best student loan consolidation will thus help you have some money to meet other expenses like car payments, household needs, and childcare. 

Additionally, because of the best student loan consolidation program, your credit rating will improve and you can even extend your paying period from the usual ten years to as long as thirty years. 

You may also find the best student loan consolidation company that will give an additional percentage of interest on top of the savings from the consolidation. This will be good to lessen your monthly burden. 

Additionally, if your student loan is under the federal direct student loans, you may qualify for the best federal direct loan consolidation program. 

In this program, in addition to the 50% or more reduction in your monthly payments, there is a lock in lower interest rate available for you. 

This lock in lower interest rate is best for your student loan consolidation program because it will shield you against inflation rates. 

This will mean that you will not have to worry about additional charges due to the inflation rate fluctuations. 

To top is all off, the best student loan consolidation deal under the federal direct program is easy to apply, and there are no fees, credit checks, application, or original charges. 

Thus, it is a clean way through paying your student loans and can even spare you some money for other purposes. Is this not the best student loan consolidation program you will ever find? 

If you are not sure if your student loans are under the federal direct student loans program, you may check out the Internet. Match your student loans if they will qualify for the best student loan consolidation program. 

You can also find in the Internet additional information that you can use to help you get out of that knee-deep debt.

Unsecured debt consolidation loans

Bankruptcy is an ugly word, but a very real possibility to many people struggling to pay a laundry list of bills that never seem to end. At times, that pile of bills seems impossible to deal with, a mountain you'll never get out from under without taking drastic measures. But bankruptcy isn't the only alternative to a life chained to the never-ending cycle of bills, late fees and more bills. Think about consolidating your debt in a single loan, a form of refinancing that helps you put your finances back in your control and your life back in order. But refinancing is for people who own a home, right? What if you don't have a home, or you don't want to risk losing it by putting it up for collateral? That's where an unsecured debt consolidation loan comes into play. 

Unsecured debt consolidation loans do not require collateral. You can pay off all your other creditors and keep your house - or lack thereof - out of it. Lenders are able to stay in business by covering their risk with higher interest rates than they offer on secured loans. 

But this can still translate into lower monthly payments for you, especially if your credit cards carry high interest rates to begin with and you've fallen into the trap of paying late and accruing late payment fees. Those disappear when you pay off that debt with the moneys from your are competitive and you may be able to negotiate a better interest rate. It helps to have a good unsecured debt consolidation loan. And don't forget, shopping around always pays off; lenders credit score since lenders do look at your credit and employment history when they consider you for a loan. 

If you shop around, negotiate, and still find that the interest rate is not going to make enough of a difference in your monthly payment to make life comfortable again, consider choosing a long-term loan. While you will generally end up paying out a greater total amount by the end of the loan, lengthening the life of your unsecured debt consolidation loan will lower your average monthly payment. That right there could make all the difference in the world. 

Unpaid or slow-paid bills wreaking havoc on your credit score? Some lenders will consider you despite your credit history. A good employment history proves stability, and even if you don't have the best employment history there are, again, lenders who will offer unsecured debt consolidation loans to almost anyone. While the interest rates are higher and the limits to what they'll loan are lower, your credit score will improve when you get the loan, and having all those creditors paid off will do nothing but increase your credit score. 

If you bills are getting the best of you to the point that you're actually considering bankruptcy, stop. Gather up those credit card bills, utility bills, department store card bills, medical bills and any other bill that's costing you sleep at night. Look into an unsecured debt consolidation loan and see how easy it can be to save your credit and peace of mind. 










Unsecured consolidation loans

Bills are piling up, and paying them all takes just about all the money you make - or worse, it takes every penny. Not only are there credit card bills screaming for attention, but utility, medical and store card are all due now. Oh, and don't forget the money you owe your brother-in-law and the fact that you're going to need to replace your windshield now. It adds up, and will it ever go away?

A loan would help you get back on your feet, help you get ahead, and help you begin to build a stronger financial future. But it takes collateral to secure a loan, right? And you don't own a home so you have no equity to borrow against. In fact, looking around, you have nothing to offer as collateral.
There's good news. There is such a thing as an unsecured debt consolidation loan, and it may be worth it for you to pursue this option for managing your debt. Lenders who offer unsecured debt consolidation loans do not require any collateral against the loan; they look at you and what your credit and employment history say about you. If you have been making regular payments to all your creditors and if you have a stable employment history those factors can work in your favor, showing that you as an individual are a good risk.

There are also lenders out there who will give you an unsecured consolidation loan in spite of your credit and employment history, if you need a clean slate in more ways than one.

Unsecured consolidation loans are intended to please your creditors by paying them all off, and to please you by putting some quality back in your life in the form of greater peace of mind. Instead of a long line of creditors calling and sending letters and constant reminders that you owe money, you have one obligation, one monthly payment. Gone is the uphill battle with late and over the limit fees. Imagine the long-term savings just by eliminating those fees from your life! Be aware, though, that lenders attach higher interest rates to unsecured consolidation loans. They take a larger risk when they lend money without security, and to compensate their interest rates will be higher than on loans with collateral. Keeping in mind the greater risk lenders take with unsecured consolidation loans, loan amounts by necessity are limited to lower amounts. Depending on the company, the limit on the amount they will loan unsecured may be as low as $1,000 or as high as $20,000.

Living with debt is just part of living nowadays, but when your debt outgrows your budget the quality of your life can become anything good. There is a difference between managing your debt and drowning it. Managing debt translates directly into quality of life, and the first step to making sense of all your outstanding bills and loans may be consolidating them all under one loan. The interest rate may be higher, but an unsecured consolidation loan is far better than bankruptcy.

Private Student Loan: Introduction

The student loans just like the other forms of financial aid are a service that is subject for repayment. However, although aware of such fact, many borrowers still fall to the trap of walking away from student loan debt which then results to series of consequences. They tend to ignore their being summoned to enter repayment usually either 90 or 120 days after separating from school or after dropping below half-time enrollment. With this, the loans remain delinquent for 270 days or become 270 days past due at any time, leading the loans to “default” status.

Govt: Student loans boards` regulations, criteria up for review

The government yesterday declared that it will soon give its stand on the appeal of University of Dar es Salaam students who were suspended for allegedly organizing last years` student strikes. 

Education and Vocational Training deputy minister Gaudentia Kabaka told the National Assembly in Dodoma that the government had started to review some of the Loans Board`s regulations which sparked off the student strikes. 

Kabaka, who was responding to a question by legislator Mariam Kasembe (CCM- Special Seats), urged students to consult their university administration and discuss their problems instead of opting for demonstrations and strikes. 

She added that by so doing they wasted valuable time outside classes, which would ultimately cause them to fail. 

``This year students who were discontinued were 0.9 per cent, which is an improvement over the year 2006/07 when discontinued students were 2.5 per cent,`` Kabaka explained. 

She said the government urged students to study hard and make use of their academic advisors. 

Recently the government directed suspended students who failed to meet the readmission conditions to appeal for assistance to the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training. 

Kabaka said the government had formed a committee to review the loans allocation system for students in institutions of higher learning, adding that the process would include evaluating the criteria which caused confusion to the students. 

Kabaka said that strike could be among the causes that led to poor performance but the government was working hard to solve students’ problems. 

In her basic question, Kasembe had wanted to know the reasons leading to mass failures by students and the number of discontinued students.

Methods to Gain Astrive Student Loans

For students in need of supplemental finances to assist in paying for higher education, Astrive student loans may be what you need in order to get the funding you require. Astrive student loans are non federal loans that are established to assist in paying the price of schooling that are not covered by the standard federally funded financial aid packages.

There are a few methods in which you can gain this type of student loans. First, you can apply on your own. In order to do so, you must have an extremely good credit score that has existed for at least 26 months. This is typically difficult for high school graduates to meet, so many individuals making use of this kind of student loans sign with a co-signer. A co-signer is a person with good credit score that is willing to speak for you and take charge of your student loan. A co-signer must meet a certain list of requisites in order to be permitted to co-sign.

Before you can be permitted to apply for Astrive student loans, there are a few requisites that you will need to meet. First, you must know which school you are going to attend. This is important, as Astrive must reach the university and get info on the loan process for that exact school. In addition to that, they will confirm that you will be attending that school, and set up the process of money payments from Astrive to the school.

This kind of student loans function very closely to how federally granted finances do. There is the usual six month grace time linked with federal finances, and a very similar apply process. However, unlike federal funding, Astrive student loans are not bound to the same styles of limits that federal funds are. Federal finances will only permit a certain amount per student, while Astrive student loans are usually more flexible. If your credit score, as well as that of your co-signer, support a higher limit, you can receive the funding that you need. This is extremely useful for those who are going to go to certain universities, as these institutions are usually a good deal more expensive.

Like other financial institutions, and unlike federal funding, Astrive student loans forms can be rejected for whatever reason. These can relate to slowing in the general markets, as well as determined by odds that you might default on the loan. The higher the risk you are, the higher the odds your application will be rejected.

Citibank Student Loans - Why So Popular?

Students who find themselves in a less than ideal financial situation are able to use student loans to help them be able to afford the increasingly higher costs involved in getting a college education. These loans are designed to be easy to get and pay off.

The wide variety of student loans now available are each set up with special features that are supposed to make the loans more desirable to students than other competing loans. Amongst all student loans, two of the most popular are the Citibank student loan and the Sallie Mae Signature loan.

Citibank Student Loan - The Advantages

The grand majority of student loans that can be obtained in order to offset the costs that are associated with college studies are secure loans. A secure loan is a loan that is guaranteed by means of a mortgage and/or your parents' personal guarantee. Secure loans require a liability that is valued at at least three times the amount of the loan that is being applied for.

Citibank student loans have become extremely popular amongst college students because they are not secure loans. Citibank loans do not have to be guaranteed by means of a mortgage or personal guarantee.

This special feature of Citibank and Sallie Mae Signature loans is quite attractive but it comes at a price; these loans come with extremely high interest rates. Since the companies that are willing to offer an unsecured loan to students are taking a big risk, they require that you pay an exceptionally high interest rate.

The Federal Student Aid Program, which is controlled by the US Department of Education, also offers unsecure student loans. These loans are easier to get and are charged less interest than unsecure loans offered by other financial institutions.

If you want to get an unsecure student loan, doing so through the US government is probably the best choice so that you do not have to pay an exorbitant interest rate. Make sure that you can successfully pay off any loan that you apply for.

Skip the Bank - Student Loans You Don't Have to Repay

When it comes to paying for college, your first stop should not be the bank. Student loans are available to college students that don't need to be repaid. These federal programs offer tuition funding and reimbursement to help you finance your college expenses.

Government grants for college students can literally slash your tuition and other educational expenses in half, if not more. While most of these grants will simply send a check to your school's bursar to pay down your tuition, some of these offers will send you a check directly in the mail. That gives you the flexibility to manage the money yourself and spend it exactly on the things you need.

This money can be used to pay for textbooks, student housing, and all the other costs that are associated with going to college.

With over $30 billion in government grant money being offered to students, this is without a doubt the best option for students. Bank student loans, for example, will accumulate interest and will need to be repaid just weeks after you graduate or as soon as you are no longer a full-time student. That's a big burden for someone that needs to take a semester off.

College grant money, on the other hand, never has to be paid back - regardless if you graduate or not. Once the money is awarded to you, it is yours to help pay for college.

Receiving this money is as simple as applying for it. Your college's financial aid office will have information on the big, national grant programs. But there are thousands of smaller, lesser known grants available to students at the state and local level. Chances are your financial aid office does not know about these programs.

Private Student Loans With No Credit Check

Private Student Loans with No Credit Check has brought an expectation of gleam for private students, who have no source of begetting cash to pay the education disbursements such as tuition, college and examination fee, hostel charges, books, laboratory expenditures and travel expenses, etc. Now such students can achieve their education without any obstruction. Most loans are endowed to students upon the systematic checking of their credit rating. Credit history includes the credit rating, which exhibits the worthiness of the prospective borrower. And so, bad credit holder means his creditworthiness is below the acceptable score. Private Student Loans with No Credit Check is potential for them.

While endeavoring to look for the best private student loan programs, you are recommended to perform your own quality investigate. As a rule a good research can be done with the assistance of the internet. As you go online, this patronizes in discovering the best private student loan program for you. How? By comparing one program with another and vigilantly checking each one's benefits as well as disadvantages.

It is positively that, despite of the bad credit history for instance, defaults, arrears, CCJs, IVA, bankruptcy, etc can get the amount through Private Student Loans with No Credit Check. There are lots of lenders and lending firms who endow Private Student Loans with No Credit Check to the students with bad credit history, they can still get pleasure from a source of this loan for studying in graduate, under graduate and post graduate.

Even as it is probable for students to scrounge money notwithstanding their bad credit, they have limited resorts, at what time it comes to acquiring the loan of their preference. They are slightly required to accept whatever offer that their lenders bestow them. This is one of the major negative belongings of having a bad credit. In fact, with the Private Student Loans with No Credit Check, few loan resorts are accessible to borrowers. The most important thing of this loan is that private students can also reimbursement within 6 months to 3 years or after completion their education. Hence, private students don't need to lose their heart for the matter of earning cash.

Are You Counting on Home Equity to Pay Student Loans?

What to do when the equity runs out?

It seems like just about everyone is having to adjust their financial plans these days. For some of you out there, the idea has always been to use the equity in your home in order to pay for your child's college education.

What happens when that equity runs dry because of tough economic times? That is what many of you are facing right now and as you can attest, this can be a very difficult situation to manage.

Don't fret, though, as there are some solutions to help you through a difficult time. You can go with a mortgage acceleration plan or you could even take advantage of low-cost government student loans.

Student Loans

• The government has made it very easy for individuals to get the financing they need for college. If you aren't comfortable using a mortgage acceleration plan to build equity more quickly, then you can certainly go with these loans to help bridge the gap.

• Subsidized Stafford Loans - These loans get help from the government, and you end up paying around 5.6 % interest over the long haul. The nice thing about this loan is that you won't be building up interest while your child is still in school and you will have some options in terms of differing interest payments when your child gets out. This basically gives you a nice four or five year window in which to help rectify your financial situation.

• Non-subsidized Stafford Loans - Similar to the subsidized version, this will have a slightly higher interest rate, but many of the same rules apply. The good thing about these loans is that individuals can qualify for them no matter what their credit looks like. Many parents are receiving financial aid packages that combine subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford loans to take the pressure off.

Mortgage Acceleration Program

One way to improve your financial standing and get back into a position where you can pay for your child's college education is to grow the equity in your home at a faster rate.

You can do this through what is known as a mortgage acceleration program. 

This program is basically one that enables you to pay off your mortgage much more quickly without ever having to spend more money.

You basically knock out the extra interest that you would have otherwise had to pay, which makes it both cheaper and faster.

All in all, this difficult situation can be fixed if you have the ability to plan ahead.

It is difficult losing equity in your home because of the awful financial times, but you shouldn't fret. Using a mortgage acceleration program or government provided student loans, you can pay for your child (or children) to go to college without a whole lot of trouble. You should look into these options, because they are suited specifically for people in difficult situations and they act as as an alternative means to get your kids into college.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Students Look at Payday Loan Scams and What is Right

There are many men and women who find themselves in financial dire straights at any point in time. These people find themselves desperate. And, as a consequence, these men and women are particularly vulnerable to operators who promise them relief from their financial problems. Unfortunately, in this day and age, due in not small part to overuse of student credit cards, many younger people are finding themselves facing the prospect of having to obtain a payday loan.

At the outset, it is important to note that a payday loan really should only be sought and obtained when a student is having a financial emergency. It should not be used or obtained for any other reason or purpose. Moreover, many financial experts maintain that a student actually should consider using his or her student credit card for emergency purposes.

Unfortunately, there are a great number of disreputable operators in the world who prey on men and women who are experiencing financial hard times. Students seem particularly susceptible to falling prey to payday loan scams. This is due in part to some experience on the part of students but also because when they end up in a bad financial situation, students oftentimes may not know where to turn.

If you find yourself in a financially poor situation, be very careful about which services you elect to utilize to “bail you out.” You really do need to do your homework before you select any payday loan lender to utilize. One area in which scam artists have been known to operate in to the detriment of many people is in the arena of payday loans. There are a significant number of scam artists who operate in the arena of payday loans.

Therefore, if you find yourself considering a payday loan, please pay particular concern to whom you elect to do business with. If you hook up with a scam artist, you can end up losing a significant amount of money in the process. 

Obtain recommendations from people you trust when it comes to seeking and finding a payday loan lender. Even in this high tech age, word of mouth from people you know and trust can be very helpful to you.

You also must make certain that you read the small print on the payday loan application very closely. You need to read all of the application. You also need to make sure that you read each and every word on the payday loan agreement and on any other document that you end up signing. If you have any questions, it is important that you obtain advice and assistance from someone you trust and who is knowledgeable and who is not associated with the payday loan lender. An informative site is that literally spells payday loans out is Payday Loans ABC located at www.paydayloansabc.com and it also has a very helpful state directory which is FAST Cash Advance State Directory it’ll help locate help and assistance by state.

Moving on. This brings us back to credit and college and college student credit cards. In the end, after college, by using your student credit card in a more prudent manner, you will be taking an important step towards keeping your financial house in order today and into the future. You were smart enough to get in to college and are equally capable of building strong credit if you make a plan, get educated and execute a financial plan. Set your mind to it. Elevate. Go.

Private Student Loans for College

The federal student loan volume has been consistently high since its inception. People have become very aware of the FAFSA and its purpose in helping determine the amount of student aid that a student can receive through government funded programs. This, of course does not pertain to student credit cards.

VIEW the best college credit card offers here.

For the first time, however, private student loans are being given out more and more, almost to the point of surpassing the amount of federal student loans given. While that has not yet happened, those who watch those trends in financing and education predict that it will happen within another ten years. 

Therefore, you need to take steps to learn as much as possible about the differences in the various private student loans that are available. It is still a good idea however, to get all the federal aid possible each year before turning to private loans. Grant, scholarships, and other forms of student aid such as work-study programs should be the first line of defense against the rising costs of a college education. 

You need to check the actual details of the loan before you apply for a private student loan. Various lenders have differing programs and you need to be aware of these programs as you begin your search. Sometimes lenders offer a low interest rate but charge a lot in fees. Some other lenders may charge no fees but have a higher interest rate. While the lower interest rate may sound like the better deal, in reality, the lower or zero fees may be better for your financial picture in the long run.

There are various charts and calculators available online to help you evaluate the actual cost of the loans that you are considering. Be sure to look these up so that you can tell if the loan deal you are getting is in keeping with what you can do financially. You will need to learn a little bit about what is known as the LIBOR rate and the Prime Lending Rate to be able accurately compare the loans. The best loans are tied to the LIBOR rate so you might check into what your loan money is based on.

College is important enough to plan for – so begin to plan wisely. Research your options and don’t come up short at the last minute which may cause you to rush into a loan that will later cause you difficulties. With the same earnest care as you researched colleges, be sure to research any loans you may need.

Options with Student Loans

There are basically three major options when it comes to student loans, and they are as follows: student loans, parent loans, and private student loans. Each comes with their own features, advantages and disadvantages, and to be discussed here are the private student loans that are available. The main purpose of the private student loans is for students to use them when they have reached the maximum limit offered by standard student loans. 

In other words, if the cost of your college education is more than you received in your standard student loan, you are able to go ahead and apply for a private student loan to get additional funding.

Private student loans are a fast and easy way to fund your education-related expenses, and they are credit-based consumer loans that can be used for any education-related purpose. Whether you want to use it to help cover tuition, books, dorm room costs, food, or any other similar expense, you are able to.

In general, these loans can be used to pay for the estimated annual cost of attendance. Keep in mind however, that one of the biggest differences between private loans and other loans is that with private loans your credit history will generally be checked. Therefore, if you have poor credit, you are less likely to be accepted for the loan, whereas with other student loans your credit history usually does not play a role in whether or not you are accepted for the loan.

There are many advantages offered by private student loans, including that there are fast decisions, as you will usually have preliminary approval within as little as minutes. It is also a very simple application process, whereas the application process with other loans often takes quite a bit of time. 

There are no in-school payments required which is very nice because this is one less thing that you will have to worry about while you are in school trying to study and graduate. There is also usually a grace period – as there is with other types of student loans – which allows you several months after your graduation date before you have to start making payments on the loan. This is especially advantageous because it means that you will have enough time after you graduate to get a new job in your career field so you will be making significantly more income and find it easier to pay off the loan.

A Student Guide to Credit Cards and Loans

Your college career aid and federal grants are just not covering all your expenses as a student. Many students today turn to student loans to finance their education and then, the next steps, are to take out a private student loan or obtain a student credit card. There are many places for private student loans and student credit cards, but the standard Federal loan is a Stafford loan, which is often easily obtained after filing the FAFSA. Most college finance offices will have information on this federal loan process. Remember, that these are loans and have to be paid back, so when you make your decision on how much to borrow and how to pay it back you will have to do some looking to find these answers.

This includes comparing student credit cards before applying for one.

It is relatively easy to fill out a student loan application and be on your way to financing college. To a lot of people, this can be very tempting, and especially so, is this is their only way of being able to go to school. Most college loans do not require you to make payments while you are in school but credit cards require immediate monthly payments. You can borrow the maximum amount available from a student loan even if you cannot afford it. This really makes it hard to say no, but if you are determined to go to college that may sometimes be your only way to meet the full cost of college expenses.

There are five loans available that students should consider. The first one is the Federal Perkins Loan, the second is Federal Subsidized Stafford or Direct Loans, the third is the Federal Unsubsidized Stafford Loan, the Federal Plus Loan for parents to help their children go to college, and then the Alternative or Private Loans can be considered, if the rest of the other loans do not cover the total cost of college plus tuition.

There are a few things to consider before you take out a loan and they are to find out how much you should borrow, estimate your loan payment and never borrow more than you need, apply for loans right away, use student employment as alternative for borrowing, which is the work-study program and then consider options that will reduce your student loan payments. Electing to take on a student credit card can help cover smaller school expenses such as books, school supplies and other college related expenses.

A college education is one of the most important things you will care for in life and is usually your first step forward toward a career. In today’s economic climate student loans may not always be as available as they were in the past, especially private student loans. Taking on a student credit card is similar to a private loan, with the main differences being the credit cards often carry higher interest rates and require immediate repayment each month.